Maasai (film)

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Movie
German title Maasai
Original title Apache
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1954
length 91 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Aldrich
script James R. Webb based
on the novel Broncho Apache by Paul I. Wellmann
production Harold Hecht
Burt Lancaster (anonymous)
music David Raksin
camera Ernest Laszlo
cut Alan Crosland junior
occupation

Massai (alternative title: The great Apache and Massai - The great Apache , original title: Apache ) is an American western . Director Robert Aldrich directed it in 1954 with Burt Lancaster and Jean Peters in the leading roles.

action

When Geronimo surrenders in 1886 , the young Maasai warrior tries to prevent this by opening fire while the Indian leaders with the white flag approach the cavalrymen . He is overwhelmed and locked with his tribal brothers on a train that is supposed to deport him to Florida . On the way he manages to escape. On his way home he has to go through populated areas, which shows how much he is disturbed by civilization.

In the Oklahoma Territory , he breaks into a Cherokee Indian who discovers him and helps him. To say goodbye, he gives the Maasai some seeds. Maasai takes it with him, despite despising his host's way of life as a farmer and obedient husband.

Finally he reaches his old homeland, which has become a stranger to him: only women, children, old people and members of the army were not deported. He is met with suspicion. Army scout Hondo, who is preferred by Nalini's father, the alcoholic Santos, is wooing his girlfriend Nalinle . Santos reveals to Maasai that he is captured but can break out. He starts a "merciless one-man war", which is only possible because of his good knowledge of the terrain and his acrobatic skills. Since he accuses Nalinle of treason, he kidnaps and tortures her; however, she marries after he has recognized her unbroken, loyal love and goes with her to the mountains.

Nalinle tries to dampen Massai's hatred of the whites; initially unsuccessful. He contemptuously throws away the maize grains given by the Cherokee Indian. When Nalinle is expecting a child and the Maasai sees that the maize kernels have sprouted, he works as a farmer: he builds a hut and tills a field. Since Nalinle has stolen seeds and clothes, their hiding place is found. Maasai - with Nalinle's consent - goes into a hopeless battle.

The “soldiers are impressed by the ferocity of his struggle. There is a moment of respite before the soldiers strike for the final blow. Suddenly the piercing scream of a newborn child can be heard from the hut and the Maasai stands petrified. Then he slowly moves towards the hut as if under a spell, not being hindered by anyone, and Sieber says: 'He has declared war, but it seems as if he wanted to make peace now.' Maasai, the warrior, has become a family man and farmer, a shining example to all Apaches. His rebellious past is forgiven and forgotten. "

background

Joe Hembus describes how the production interprets the end of the film as “pure mockery”, because the film wants to “glorify” the “rebelling Maasai, not the family man and farmer, who is happy may be, if the whites grant him their forgiveness. "

The original script contained a dark ending, according to which a "denunciation of the whites as murderers" was intended. Maasai was supposed to be shot from behind while walking to his child. But the producer Harold Hecht wanted an optimistic ending and demanded an alternative ending. After winning his initially reluctant co-producer Burt Lancaster over to his side, the director was asked to make two conclusions. Knowing full well that the conclusion he did not want would then be taken, Robert Aldrich submitted, otherwise he would have been replaced. Years later he grumbled:

“It got lost because a $ 500-a-week director can never beat Hecht-Lancaster and United Artists . It was a bad compromise. A film is being made about […] the inevitability of Massai's death. His courage is measured by this inevitability. The whole of the previous two hours will be pointless if he can just leave at the end. "

Massai is one of the most popular and most valued films by Robert Aldrich among critics, which is clear from judgments such as “humanistic westerns”, “especially 'Maasai'” deserve Aldrich's westerns “recognition” and he is one of the “films [n] […] that one loves very much ”, whereby the praise is often associated with a critical attitude towards Aldrich's other westerns. In Joe Hembus' Western Lexicon , which awards stars according to the "degree of importance of films in the history of the Western", Maasai is the only Western Aldrich to be awarded the highest rating of three stars.

synchronization

From the ultra film Synchron GmbH in Berlin in 1954 was a synchronization produces.

role actor Voice actor
Maasai Burt Lancaster Curt Ackermann
Nalinle Jean Peters Edith Schneider
Al Sieber John McIntire Eduard Wandrey
Hondo Charles Bronson Franz Nicklisch
Weddle John Dehner Siegfried Schürenberg
Santos Paul Guilfoyle Alfred Balthoff
Clagg Ian MacDonald Walther Suessenguth
Grocer Paul E. Burns Hans Hessling

criticism

"[P] oetic [] and sensitive [] [...]."

- François Truffaut , 1955

"The focus of the calm, carefully staged western is an interesting character study."

- Lexicon of international film

“More important to this film than Massai's guerrilla warfare is his gradually growing realization that the remnants of his people can only survive as farmers and not as hunters. The end is unfortunately too sentimental and pathetic. "

- Dieter Krusche and Jürgen Labenski , 1973

"Definitely worth seeing[.]"

- Uwe Nettelbeck : Filmtips, 1968, on the re-screening of the film in German cinemas

"Plea for the Indians [.]"

- Barbara Buhl [?] : Film tips, 1973

"In the grandiose, endless driving shot, in which the Maasai walks through the streets of St. Louis and experiences the strange, eerie world of civilization, the complete alienation of the Indians is fixed as a historical description as well as a vision."

- Joe Hembus : Western Lexicon, 1976

"The Maasai is not just the Indian, he is the free man in general, who has no place in American society."

- Georg Seeßlen : Western, 1979

"Discerning high-class star with Hollywood icon Burt Lancaster as a red skin ."

- The Movie Database , around 2010

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dieter Krusche with the assistance of Jürgen Labenski: Reclams Film Guide. 5th, revised and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1982 [1. Edition 1973], ISBN 3-15-010205-7 , p. 48.
  2. ↑ Cf. the still photo showing the Maasai jumping over a crevice in: Georg Seeßlen: Western. History and mythology of western films (=  basics of popular film ). Revised and updated new edition. Schüren , Marburg 1995 [1. 1979 edition by G. Seeßlen and Claudius Weil], ISBN 3-89472-421-8 , p. 125.
  3. ↑ Summary of the production. Quoted from: Illustrierte Film-Bühne. No. 2612 [about 1954]. In: Illustrierte Film-Bühne IV. [Black and white reproductions of film program booklets for] 50 Westerns. Selected and introduced by Joe Hembus. Verlag Monika Nüchtern, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-922674-13-5 . Partly cited in: Joe Hembus: Das Western-Lexikon. 1567 films from 1894 to the present day . [Extended new edition by Benjamin Hembus] (=  Heyne Filmbibliothek . No. 32/207). Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1995 [first edition 1976], ISBN 3-453-08121-8 , p. 283.
  4. ^ A b c Joe Hembus: The Western Lexicon. 1567 films from 1894 to the present day . [Extended new edition by Benjamin Hembus] (=  Heyne Filmbibliothek . No. 32/207). Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1995 [first edition 1976], ISBN 3-453-08121-8 , p. 283.
  5. ↑ See: Robert Aldrich. In: Charles Higham, Joel Greenberg: The Celluloid Muse - Hollywood Directors Speak. Signet, New York, NY 1972 [first edition London 1969]. German translation of a longer passage in: Joe Hembus: Das Western-Lexikon. 1567 films from 1894 to the present day . [Extended new edition by Benjamin Hembus] (=  Heyne Filmbibliothek . No. 32/207). Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1995 [first edition 1976], ISBN 3-453-08121-8 , p. 283.
  6. ↑ Robert Aldrich. In: Charles Higham, Joel Greenberg: The Celluloid Muse - Hollywood Directors Speak. Signet, New York, NY 1972 [first edition London 1969]. Quoted from the German translation in: Joe Hembus: Das Western-Lexikon. 1567 films from 1894 to the present day . [Extended new edition by Benjamin Hembus] (=  Heyne Filmbibliothek . No. 32/207). Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1995 [first edition 1976], ISBN 3-453-08121-8 , p. 283.
  7. ↑ Marcus Stiglegger : [Article] Robert Aldrich. In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Film directors. Biographies, descriptions of works, filmographies. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2008 [1. Edition 1999], ISBN 978-3-15-010662-4 , pp. 7-10, here 7.
  8. ↑ uwe [ Uwe Nettelbeck ]: Film . In: Die Zeit , No. 9/1964 [short review on four for Texas ].
  9. ↑ BB: Film Tips . In: Die Zeit , No. 35/1971 [short review on scream when we die! ].
  10. ^ Joe Hembus: The Western Lexicon. 1567 films from 1894 to the present day . [Extended new edition by Benjamin Hembus] (=  Heyne Filmbibliothek . No. 32/207). Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1995 [first edition 1976], ISBN 3-453-08121-8 , p. 30.
  11. ↑ a b Maasai - The great Apache . In: synchrondatenbank.de , Synchrondatenbank , accessed on August 13, 2019.
  12. ↑ Maasai - The great Apache. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on August 13, 2019 .
  13. ^ François Truffaut: Kiss Me Deadly [1955]. In: Ders .: The films of my life. Essays and Reviews. German by Frieda Grafe and Enno Patalas . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1979 [first edition of the translation 1976, French original 1975], ISBN 3-423-01449-0 , p. 99 f., Here 100.
  14. ↑ Maasai. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 22, 2016 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  15. ↑ Uwe Nettelbeck: FilmtipPrograms . In: Die Zeit , No. 50/1968
  16. ↑ BB [Barbara Buhl?]: [Short review on] No mercy for Ulzana. In: EKP ao: film tips . In: Die Zeit , No. 14/1973 [collective review, section “Questionable”]. The abbreviation BB was ascribed to Barbara Buhl, as it can be found in: Thomas Koebner with the assistance of Kerstin-Luise Neumann (ed.): Film classics. Descriptions and comments (=  RUB . No. 9414–9418). 4 volumes. Reclam, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-15-030011-8 , Volume 1, p. 17.
  17. ^ Joe Hembus: The Western Lexicon. 1567 films from 1894 to the present day . [Extended new edition by Benjamin Hembus ] (=  Heyne Filmbibliothek . No. 32/207). Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1995 [first edition 1976], ISBN 3-453-08121-8 , p. 284.
  18. ^ Georg Seeßlen: Western. History and mythology of western films (=  basics of popular film ). Revised and updated new edition. Schüren , Marburg 1995 [1. 1979 edition by G. Seeßlen and Claudius Weil], ISBN 3-89472-421-8 , p. 126.
  19. ↑ [entry] Maasai, the great Apache. In: The Movie Database ( themoviedb.org accessed March 15, 2016).